A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
SN2018kzr: A Rapidly Declining Transient from the Destruction of a White Dwarf
Authors: Owen R. McBrien, Stephen J. Smartt, Ting-Wan Chen, Cosimo Inserra, James H. Gillanders, Stuart A. Sim, Anders Jerkstrand, Armin Rest, Stefano Valenti, Rupak Roy, Mariusz Gromadzki, Stefan Taubenberger, Andreas Flörs, Mark E. Huber, Ken C. Chambers, Avishay Gal-Yam, David R. Young, Matt Nicholl, Erkki Kankare, Ken W. Smith, Kate Maguire, Ilya Mandel, Simon Prentice, Ósmar Rodríguez, Jonathan Pineda Garcia, Claudia P. Gutiérrez, Lluís Galbany, Cristina Barbarino, Peter S. J. Clark, Jesper Sollerman, Shrinivas R. Kulkarni, Kishalay De, David A. H. Buckley, and Arne Rau
Publisher: IOP PUBLISHING LTD
Publication year: 2019
Journal: Astrophysical Journal Letters
Journal name in source: ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Journal acronym: ASTROPHYS J LETT
Article number: ARTN L23
Volume: 885
Issue: 1
Number of pages: 9
ISSN: 2041-8205
eISSN: 2041-8213
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab4dae
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/44844781
We present SN2018kzr, the fastest declining supernova-like transient, second only to the kilonova, AT2017gfo. SN2018kzr is characterized by a peak magnitude of Mr = -17.98, a peak bolometric luminosity of ?1.4 & xfffd;& x5e0;10(43) erg s(?1), and a rapid decline rate of 0.48 & xfffd;& xfffd;0.03 mag day(?1) in the r band. The bolometric luminosity evolves too quickly to be explained by pure Ni-56 heating, necessitating the inclusion of an alternative powering source. Incorporating the spin-down of a magnetized neutron star adequately describes the lightcurve and we estimate a small ejecta mass of M-ej & xfffd;=& xfffd;0.10 & xfffd;& xfffd;0.05 M. Our spectral modeling suggests the ejecta is composed of intermediate mass elements including O, Si, and Mg and trace amounts of Fe-peak elements, which disfavors a binary neutron star merger. We discuss three explosion scenarios for SN2018kzr, given the low ejecta mass, intermediate mass element composition, and high likelihood of additional powering?the core collapse of an ultra-stripped progenitor, the accretion induced collapse (AIC) of a white dwarf, and the merger of a white dwarf and neutron star. The requirement for an alternative input energy source favors either the AIC with magnetar powering or a white dwarf?neutron star merger with energy from disk wind shocks.
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